Saturday, 30 June, 2007:
Ten Liberians are said to be languishing behind bars in Libya on various criminal offences. Liberia's Ambassador to Libya and Tunisia, Jahjah Kamara said the Liberians allegedly committed fraudulent acts including receiving money under false pretense, impersonating, and illegal entry, among others. Kamara said the Liberians have spent several months in jail, and the Embassy in Libya has sought the release of somem, but others were still committing similar crimes. He said those who were released through the intervention of the Embassy were turned over to the UNHCR for immediate repatriation. [The NEWS]
Saturday, 30 June, 2007:
Irelad's Sinn Fein last night rejected a call for Martin McGuinness to help a victims' group with a bid to sue Libya in the US courts. The party said Families Acting for Innocent Relatives’ director William Frazer, who has officially requested Mr McGuinness provides information to back-up the multi-billion dollar lawsuit, is using the victims’ issue to forward a political agenda and they “would not allow themselves to be used by him in this effort”. Sinn Fein’s victims’ spokesman Francie Molloy said: “Willie Frazer ... is an opponent of Sinn Fein, the current power-sharing Executive and the wider peace process. [NewsLetter]

Friday, 29 June, 2007:
A decision to allow a new appeal by Libyan intelligence agent Abdel Basset al-Megrahi against his conviction for the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing will have good consequences, a Libyan official said on Thursday. Mohammed Elzwi, a Libyan official dealing with the Lockerbie issue and former ambassador to Britain, said in a statement: "The decision opens the door of hope regarding the innocence of Abdel Basset al-Meghrahi ... This decision will have good consequences." Elzwi's office sent the statement to reporters travelling with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in West Africa. An independent review body said earlier on Thursday Scotland's High Court must hear a new appeal by Megrahi against his conviction.
[Reuters]
Friday, 29 June, 2007:
A judicial commission said Thursday that a Libyan agent imprisoned in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie should be granted an appeal so new evidence that he was wrongly convicted can be considered. Some British relatives of victims welcomed the decision, saying key questions have never been answered. But American families criticized the commission's recommendation as unfair and unwarranted.
If the appeal is granted and successful, it could undermine years of investigation, clear Libya of involvement and reopen the debate about who was behind the attack. But a former U.S. intelligence officer, Bob Ayers, said he doesn't believe it would affect the war on terror. [AP]
Friday, 29 June, 2007:
Colonel Qadhafi was yesterday accorded a rosy welcome by Sierra Leoneans from all works of life at the National Stadium in Freetown where he addressed the public. Qadhafi assured Sierra Leoneans of his government’s continued assistance to their country’s post war recovery process, citing the areas of agriculture and economic empowerment of the grass root masses as his key areas of focus. He disclosed of plans to establish a Trust Fund in the near future to empower small scale businesses and individuals in related areas of economic development through non interest capital. He indicated that the scheme has worked well in Libya and expressed hope that it will thrive in similar way in Sierra Leone. [Awareness Times]
Friday, 29 June, 2007:
Syria's Revolutionary Youths Union and Libyan Youth National Organization signed on Thursday an agreement aiming at boosting and activating youth work and the brotherly ties connecting the youth in Syria and Libya. Chairman of Revolution Youth Union Adnan Arbash and Secretary General of the Libyan National Youth Organization Abdelhadi al-Hwaij signed the agreement. The agreement stipulates for exchanging information, data, documents that contribute in developing the cultural, political and sports activities. [SANA]

Thursday, 28 June, 2007:
Families of the victims of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing won a victory this week when language was added to a Senate bill that withholds State Department funding for diplomacy with Libya. The House had already approved legislation that would withhold funding for diplomatic operations in Libya until Libya completed $2.7 billion in payments it had said it would provide to the families of victims of Pan Am Flight 103. The full Senate Appropriations Committee is to consider the bill today. Up until Wednesday, lobbyists on the issue were unclear on whether the language would be included in the bill. The Senate bill would prohibit any funds from being appropriated for a new U.S. embassy in Tripoli and for activities related to energy development until Libya makes final payments to the Lockerbie bombing victims' families. [The Hill]
Thursday, 28 June, 2007:
Six foreign medics sentenced to death in Libya for infecting children with the AIDS virus appeared Wednesday before a court to face new charges of defamation brought by a senior police officer. The five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, who has now been given Bulgarian nationality, were acquitted at the end of May in another defamation case brought by three other police officers. The cases arise from claims the medics made their ‘confessions’ in the AIDS trial were forced from them under torture, including beatings, electric shocks and being threatened with dogs. If found guilty in the new trial, brought by Salim Jomaa Salim, head of the police dog unit, they face sentences of up to three years in jail. [AFP]
Thursday, 28 June, 2007:
Libyan leader Qadhafi said on Wednesday his plan for a United States of Africa should include creating a two million strong army to staunch recurrent conflicts which have ravaged many of the continent's nations. Qadhafi was speaking to youths in Ivory Coast's economic capital Abidjan, Qadhafi's final leg of a tour of several West African states before he attends an African Union summit beginning on July 1 in neighbouring Ghana's. [Reuters]
Thursday, 28 June, 2007:
The pace of gas deals in Libya is to accelerate in early July when around 15 onshore and offshore areas are to go under the hammer. The move by the Libyan government is attracting companies of the caliber of Italy’s Eni, which has said it will bid for rights for the field, and comes just weeks after the country struck a huge deal with BP to search for gas in its northwestern quarter. The head of Libyan oil policy and National Oil Co chief executive Shokri Ghanem told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview last week that its third hydrocarbon round since UN sanctions against it were ended in September 2003 was on track.
“That announcement will come in July,” he said, possibly within the first week. [Dow Jones Newswires]
Thursday, 28 June, 2007:
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Sheikh I. C. Quaye has called on Ghanaians to assist the government in eradicating malaria in the country. He said, “the time has come, when Ghana should be seen as a mosquito-free country” in Africa and around the world. Quaye expressed gratitude to the Libyan President, Libyan Ambassador to Ghana and the team from Libya for their support in helping Ghana to eradicate mosquito breeds in the country. Mr. Abubakar Ahmed Elehannudi, Director of the Libyan Arab Cultural Centre said the $2 million gift is part of Libya’s support to the Ghanaian government in checking malaria. [Acra Daily Mail]

Wednesday, 27 June, 2007:
A Libyan intelligence agent will learn this week if he can appeal against his conviction for blowing a Pan Am airliner out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988. An eight-member independent review commission will announce on Thursday whether it will refer the case of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi to the Scottish High Court as a possible miscarriage of justice. If Megrahi were to appeal and win, it would throw wide open the question of who ordered and carried out the bombing of Pan Am 103, which killed 270 people. [Reuters]
Wednesday, 27 June, 2007:
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov will soon visit Jordan, Libya and the United Arab Emirates. He was invited to pay the visits at a Tuesday meeting with ambassadors from member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Chechnya needs foreign investments, President Ramzan Kadyrov told the ambassadors. [Itar-Tass]
Wednesday, 27 June, 2007:
A future ferryboat route connecting the port of Kalamata, in extreme southeastern Greece, with the Libyan harbour of Darnah is the object of a protocol of cooperation to be signed by the chambers of commerce of the two municipalities. Currently, there is no ferryboat service between the two countries, which occupy opposite ends (north-south) of the eastern Mediterranean. The protocol will be signed over the weekend in Libya, as a chamber delegation from Kalamata will travel to the North African country for the purpose. [ANSAmed]
Wednesday, 27 June, 2007:
Their group was born in one of the camps, prepared in Libya by Col. Qadhafi, which houses refugees. They are Tinariwen, 'deserts' in Tamashek language, the Berber population of Sahara, who live in the North East of Mali. They will play in Cosenza, Italy, on July 20, as part of the edition 2007 of the Invasion Festival. The Tuareg group rotates round the charismatic figure of its leader, Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, who after the death of his father, killed by the Malìs soldiers during the first Berber rebellion in the 1960's, was forced to exile. [ANSAmed]

Tuesday, 26 June, 2007:
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill freezing spending on diplomatic efforts with Libya until it pays the last part of a $2.7-billion compensation package. The bill would withhold funds for a new U.S. embassy in Libya pending its final disbursement. In a 2003 court settlement, Libyan leader Qadhafi took responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and agreed to pay $10 million per victim to families. By 2004, Libya had paid out $8 million per victim, but still owes $2 million per victim. A one-time Libyan agent in 2001 was convicted of murder for the bombing. A Senate committee is expected to take up the bill Thursday. [NewsDay]
Tuesday, 26 June, 2007:
New details have emerged of the deals that were struck during Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki’s visit to Libya last month. Apparently, Kenya has quietly signed an exclusive trade pact with Libya granting Tripoli “most favoured nation” status — making it possible for Libyan companies to start at an advantage over investors when competing for lucrative contracts. Titled “Agreement on Promotion Guarantee and Protection On Investment,” the document is signed by Kenya’s Minister for Trade, Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, and Dr Ali Elisaue, Libya's secretary of Investment. The EastAfrican has learnt that, during discussions with the Kibaki mission, the Libyans expressed interest in a total of six projects. [The EastAfrican]
Tuesday, 26 June, 2007:
Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi condemned Monday the working of the African Union (AU) and called for the creation of a "United States of Africa" at the forthcoming AU summit in Ghana. "The OAU (Organisation of African Unity), predecessor of the African Union (AU)) failed, the council of African ministers failed, the African parliament is a rump parliament," he told a meeting of 50,000 people in a stadium in Conakry. Qadhafi is in the Guinean capital on his way to the AU summit in Accra, having driven in a convoy of several hundred vehicles via Mali from Libya. He lamented the fact that "in Africa we have not been able to create a government of union (nor) any instrument of union to bring about our aim." [AFP]
Tuesday, 26 June, 2007:
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has been investigating if Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was subject to a miscarriage of justice. In 2001 Megrahi was found guilty of murdering the 270 people who died when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. He protested his innocence and lodged an application with the SCCRC in 2003. Here is a summary of key events in the case. Click here for details. [BBC]
Tuesday, 26 June, 2007:
The European Union's border control agency, Frontex, on Monday began joint patrol operations in the Mediterranean Sea aimed at curbing the arrival of thousands of African would-be immigrants who attempt to reach the European mainland illegally. The patrols are to be based around Malta, in the strait between Sicily and Libya, though Libya has refused to contribute to the project. The Frontex mission, nicknamed Nautilus II, had been in doubt because the number of airplanes and ships offered by EU member states was considered insufficient to cover the entire central Mediterranean route effectively.
However, eleventh hour appeals to member states by Frontex yielded the desired results, with additional member states like Spain joining and Italy agreeing to switch its dedicated resources from air to sea. [DPA]

Monday, 25 June, 2007:
A U.S. delegation seeking a home for Africa Command (AFRICOM) received a chilly reception during its tour of North Africa early this month, The Washington Post reported Sunday. Algeria and Libya ruled out hosting the planned AFRICOM, and said they were firmly against any of their neighbors doing so. diplomats said they were disappointed by the depth of opposition, given that the Bush administration has bolstered ties with both countries on security matters in recent years. Morocco, which has been mentioned as a possible site for the new command and is one of the strongest U.S. allies, didn't roll out the welcome mat either. [Xinhua]
Monday, 25 June, 2007:
A retired Scottish police officer who worked at a senior level on the Lockerbie case has made a series of astounding allegations against his fellow investigators, accusing them of tampering with evidence. The detective, who is given the codename Golfer, makes a number of dramatic claims. Foremost among them is his contention that bogus evidence became central to the case against Megrahi, 55. If they are proved to be true, his claims that evidence was fabricated and planted to create the Maltese chain of evidence linking to Megrahi will cause irreparable damage to the Scottish justice system. Golfer alleges pieces of supposedly bomb-damaged clothing, parts of a timer circuit board and a manual for a Toshiba radio-cassette recorder were added to the evidence to lay a trail that would lead to the 'bomber'. [Scotsman]

Sunday, 24 June, 2007:
The relatives of the HIV sick Libyan children want US$ 10 million compensation to be paid to each of the families so that the deal on the Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor's release could be wrapped up. The chairman of the children' families association Ramadan al-Fitouri said the demands have been made seven years ago and will not be changed. "Some of the families still insist on executing the death sentences against the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor but a compromise still could be reached until the end of the next week," Ramadan al-Fitouri added. The statement comes shortly after the Qadhafi humanitarian foundation, which is mediating the talks, said an out-of-court settlement between the EU and the families of the children could be announced as early as Friday. [SNA]
Sunday, 24 June, 2007:
Libya's Al Ittihad secured a surprise 1-0 win over their Algerian visitors JS Kabylie at the start of the group phase of the Champions League on Friday 22 June 2007. The Guinea-born striker Alseny Camara latched on to a looping cross from winger Al Khalifa Rahuma to give Al Ittihad a winning start in their Group A game in Tripoli. The 85th minute effort was a rare attack on goal by Al Ittihad, the first Libyan side to reach the league phase of continent's top club competition. Salem Rewani went just wide in Al Ittihad's first serious attack, in the 65th minute, and then later wasted a free kick opportunity from a good position. [Al-Shorouq]
Sunday, 24 June, 2007:
Talks aimed at reaching a peace deal between the Chadian government and rebel leaders hostile to President Idriss Deby began in the Libyan capital on Saturday. Libyan intelligence chief Abdallah Senussi opened the talks with an appeal to let "the interests of the Chadian people prevail and end hostilities," saying that Khartoum and Tripoli would guarantee any deal they reach. Infrastructure Minister Adoum Younousmi, who is leading the Chad government delegation, said on Thursday there were "signs that an accord could be reached." The heads of the main armed opposition groups were received on Tuesday by Libyan leader Qadhafi, who reminded them "of the necessity to find a political resolution to the conflict." [AFP]
Sunday, 24 June, 2007:
Libyan leader Qadhafi has added Ivory Coast to his tour of west African countries which kicks off on Friday in Mali, the president's office here said. He was expected in Ivory Coast on Tuesday for a three day visit before he heads off to nearby Ghana for the African Union (AU) summit slated for July 1 and 2 in Accra. The visit is an "official and friendly" one, said President Laurent Gabgbo's spokesman Silvere Nebout. Mali's is the first leg of Qadhafi's tour, before moving to Guinea on Saturday and proceeding to Sierra Leone early next week. [AfricAsia]

Saturday, 23 June, 2007:
European Union (EU) officials trying to free six medics jailed in Libya for infecting 426 children with HIV have offered medical care for the children but have yet to agree on compensation for their families. The five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were sentenced to death in December for deliberately injecting the children with HIV. The nurses say they are innocent and were tortured to confess. The chairman of an association for the children’s families said this week a deal with the EU on the main sticking point of financial compensation might be wrapped up in coming days. On Friday it appeared that had not yet happened. [Reuters]
Saturday, 23 June, 2007:
A dispute over compensation is holding up a deal in the case of six foreign medics sentenced to death in Libya for infecting children with the Aids virus, the children’s families said yesterday. “Despite difficult negotiations, a compromise was found on the different points of the deal, including the children’s care and treatment, but there is still one sticking point concerning the compensation,” they said in a statement. Bulgaria’s foreign minister confirmed that a deal was still far from being reached to resolve the case. “There’s been dynamism in the past few weeks but the case is still far from a solution,” Ivailo Kalfin told Bulgarian radio. [AFP]
Saturday, 23 June, 2007:
Libya is set to provide Kenya with oil at preferential rates in accordance with a bilateral agreement the two nations signed in June, Inter Press reported. Sumayya Hassan Athmani, company secretary of the National Oil Corporation of Kenya, said the cheaper oil will free up money for Kenya to use in other areas of the economy. [StratFor]
Saturday, 23 June, 2007:
The main obstacle for the agreement between the EU and the families of the HIV-infected children is the exact amount to be paid as compensations, Driss Lagha, chairman of the Association for the Families of the Children told Al Jazeera. He noted though that talks with EU officials are still going on. Lagha confirmed all ties between European institutions, the association and the Libyan government have been enacted to reach an agreement. [FIA]
Saturday, 23 June, 2007:
Tunisian and Libyan ministers of transportation agreed on Friday to jointly set up a company that would embark on building a railway track for Libya. The two ministers, Abdulrahim al-Zawrawi of Tunisia and Muhammad al-Mabrouk of Libya signed the agreement at the island of Djerba, close to both the Tunisian and Libyan borders. The railway system will meet the land transportation needs of Libya and Tunisia in building and maintaining the proposed railway track, the two ministers said at the signing ceremony. [KUNA]

Friday, 22 June, 2007:
Libya today was designated head of an anti-racism panel of the UN Human Rights Council, to oversee two years of preparatory meetings leading up to a world conference in 2009. "Choosing Qadhafi to head a world anti-racism conference is like appointing a pyromaniac to be fire chief,” said Hillel Neuer, director of UN Watch. "It is obscene that the same racist government that awarded its highest prize in 2002 to convicted Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy is now in charge of fighting racism." According to UN custom, Libya may also become host of the 2009 conference. It seemed yet another sign that the newly reformed Human Rights Council was repeating the practices of its discredited predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights, which suffered fatal consequences after it chose Libya as its head in 2003. [MFF]
Friday, 22 June, 2007:
Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmoudi said Wednesday, "Libya and Iran will establish a shared fund for making investments in Africa and Latin America." Al-Mahmoudi made the comment at a meeting with the press before being officially seen off, adding, "During my meetings with the Iranian officials, in addition to bilateral ties, we discussed making joint investments in Africa and Latin America." We had a hard working day today, and a great number of issues of mutual interest, as well as new fields for cooperation were discussed."
Friday, 22 June, 2007:
Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi will make a two-day visit to Guinea at the weekend, the government announced Thursday. The trip follows a recent visit to Libya by Guinea's new Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate. Kouyate was in Qadhafi's home town of Sirte for a summit of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) earlier this month. [AFP]

Thursday, 21 June, 2007:
Driss Lagha, chairman of the Libyan Association for the Families of the HIV-infected Children, said a deal on financial compensation might be wrapped up in the next few days in talks between the European Union and the families. "We might reach a settlement in a week -- even before the next court session," he told Reuters, referring to longstanding demands by the families for financial compensation, which could set the stage for the release. Lagha added that any deal agreed in coming days would not affect the court's decision on July 11. [SNA]
Thursday, 21 June, 2007:
Hopes are rising that five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death in Libya for allegedly infecting children with the HIV will be released within weeks in a deal involving a multimillion-dollar int'l fund for healthcare to treat the victims. European diplomats said last night they were now "cautiously optimistic" that the eight-year saga could be nearing its end. Optimism increased when the supreme court in Tripoli announced that its final decision on the sentences will be given on July 11. Observers described the session as businesslike and less confrontational than previous occasions, though families of the victims protested outside, holding pictures of their infected children, 56 whom have died. [The Guardian]
Thursday, 21 June, 2007:
A Chadian government delegation left Wednesday for Tripoli where it is expected to hold talks with rebel leaders hostile to President Idriss Deby, a government source said. Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi has invited both sides to talks in Tripoli, where rebel leaders met him on Tuesday. Infrastructure Minister Adoum Younousmi, the Chadian government number two, is leading the delegation, the source said. "We are going to try to have a discussion with our brothers (the rebels) in order to find a definitive solution to end a war which has done so much damage to our country," a delegation member told AFP on condition of anonymity. [ST]

Wednesday, 20 June, 2007:
The Bulgarian woman, who raised the five children of Libyan leader Qadhafi, has expressed firm belief that the five nurses, sentenced to death on bogus charges of deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV, will be released. "I believe that Libyan leader Muammar al-Qadhafi will release the Bulgarian nurses," Maria Zaykova, said as cited by the Bulgarian national TV channel. The 78-year-old woman, who was born in the town of Topolovgrad, said she was looking forward to the news of the nurses coming back to Bulgaria. [SNA]
Wednesday, 20 June, 2007:
A Palestinian doctor sentenced to death in Libya with five Bulgarian nurses on charges of deliberately infecting 426 Libyan children with HIV has been awarded Bulgarian citizenship, foreign minister Ivailo Kalfin announced on Tuesday, the eve of a supreme court hearing in which the sentences could be confirmed. "Ashraf al-Hazouz had applied for Bulgarian citizenship two or three years ago," said the minister. "After all procedures were completed last week, he is now a Bulgarian citizen." The decision will allow Bulgaria to ask for the doctor's extradition if the supreme court overturns the death verdict, he said. [AKI]
Wednesday, 20 June, 2007:
Qatar and Libya yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding for the setting up of a special fund for economic assistance to Arab countries in short of water resources and three bilateral agreements. Qatar's Prime Minister H E Sheikh Hamad Al Thani and the Secretary of the Libyan Prime Minister, Dr. Al Baghdadi Al Mahmoudi, were present during the signing ceremonies. Three other agreements were signed. One for the setting up of a joint investment fund, the second for the setting up of the Libyan-Qatari bank, and the third for the setting up of a joint real estate investment corporation as a joint-stock venture between the Qatari Diar for Real Estate Investment and the Libyan Foreign Investment Company. [QNA]
Wednesday, 20 June, 2007:
Phoenicia Group, the leading U.S.-Libyan diversified business and consultancy group, today announced a strategic alliance with CapRock Communications to provide end-to-end VSAT connectivity products and solutions to the oil and gas industry in Libya. Ryad Sunusi, President & CEO of the privately-held Phoenicia Group and a prominent Libyan businessman and consultant, in a prepared statement, said:
"With an installed user base of over 350 VSAT terminals in Libya for government, military, and corporate clients based on iDirect TDMA and SCPC technologies and as the recognized leading IT company in Libya, we believe in forming alliances and partnerships with market leaders abroad." [Send2Press]
Wednesday, 20 June, 2007:
The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group has received an order from the German CEMAG Anlagenbau GmbH, Hameln, to supply electrical equipment for the new kiln line in the Zliten cement plant in Libya. The final customer is the Ahlia Cement Company (AhCC). The order is worth around eight million euros and the new kiln line is scheduled to start operating in May 2008. AhCC operates four cement plants with an annual capacity of approximately 3.5 million metric tons. At the Zliten location, east of Tripoli, CEMAG Anlagenbau GmbH is currently building a second cement kiln line for AhCC. [Construction News]

Tuesday, 19 June, 2007:
The Libyan intelligence officer serving life in prison for the Lockerbie bombing could have his conviction quashed after an official review of fresh evidence in the case. Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was jailed six years ago for Britain's worst ever terrorist atrocity which killed 270 people when a Pan Am flight to New York blew up in mid-air and crashed near the Scottish border in 1988. But doubts over the circumstantial evidence against him remain widespread, and a report by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission due out this week is expected to conclude that his case may be a miscarriage of justice. [Daily Mail]
Tuesday, 19 June, 2007:
The Palestinian doctor in the trial of six medical staff on trial in Libya charged with infecting children with HIV has been promised Bulgarian nationality, his lawyer said on Monday.
"They have promised him Bulgarian nationality within the week," Tuhami Tumi told AFP, declining to specify who was behind the offer of citizenship for Ashraf Ahmad Juma. Bulgarian nationality, as held by the other accused, would allow his extradition to Europe if the case is resolved, he said. Libya's supreme court on Wednesday begins hearing the final appeal of the six foreign medical staff sentenced to death for infecting children with HIV. [FIA]

Monday, 18 June, 2007:
Result Sunday from an African Cup of Nations qualifying match: Libya 3 (Ahmed el-Zawy, 10 and 49; Salem al-Rawwani, 23), Ethiopia 1 (Kosays, 8). [AP]
Monday, 18 June, 2007:
Efforts to free six foreign medics sentenced to death for infecting Libyan children with HIV have yet to result in a deal on compensation, a group representing the families of the children said on Sunday. Libya's Supreme Court is due to hear an appeal by the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor this week. Ramadan Fitouri, spokesman for the Association for the Families of the HIV-infected Children, said he expected the appeal to be dismissed, opening the way for a compensation deal. "This will then be the ideal time to negotiate the issue of compensation," he told Reuters. "If an agreement is reached -- I mean, if the families accept the compensation -- then the council could cancel the death penalty." [Reuters]
Monday, 18 June, 2007:
A verdict in the appeals trial of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death in Libya''s high-profile AIDS case will be handed down Wednesday, Qadhafi's son said, AFP reported. He also appeared to suggest that the death penalty would be upheld, but that the sentences could be commuted if a compensation package is worked out between the Bulgarian government and the European Union. In Tripoli, an official of the Qadhafi Foundation, headed by Saif al-Islam, denied he had stated that a verdict would be announced on Wednesday and said remarks made by the Libyan leader's son to an Italian newspaper were mis-translated. "Seif al-Islam told the newspaper that the (appeal) process will start on June 20 and did not say if a verdict will be announced," the official told AFP, requesting anonymity. [Mediafax]
Monday, 18 June, 2007:
Relatives of victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, are demanding that Congress withhold State Department funding that would help normalize relations with Libya until Tripoli fully compensates the families of the 270 killed. The Bush administration has requested $115.9 million to build an embassy in Tripoli and an additional $1.15 million in aid it says will help normalize relations with a Libyan nation that had been implicated in terrorist activity for decades before 2003, when it accepted responsibility for Lockerbie and renounced its efforts to develop WMDs. But by a unanimous vote last week, the House Appropriations Committee passed an amendment to block the funds until President Bush certifies Tripoli is complying with its agreement to compensate the families. [NewsDay]
Monday, 18 June, 2007:
Emaar Properties, the UAE-based global property developer, is finalizing the masterplan design to develop the Zowara-Abou Kemash (ZAK) area on the Mediterranean coast near Tripoli, Libya. Emaar has extended by another six months the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the ZAK Development Zone to develop the project, which is the largest in Emaar’s global mega-project portfolio. The 380 million sq metre (38,000 hectares) development, a joint venture by Emaar Properties and the Zowara-Abou Kemash (ZAK) Development Zone, encompasses residential, commercial, industrial, educational, healthcare, leisure and entertainment components that will attract foreign investment and generate employment opportunities for Libyans. Engineer Al-Saadi Mu'aamar al-Qadhfi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ZAK Development Zone said: “This project marks the successful implementation of the Libyan government’s development policies". [Al-Bawaba]

Sunday, 17 June, 2007:
The Liberian Senate has vehemently rejected a communication addressed to the Liberian Senate from the Libyan government through its Ambassador accredited to Liberia for some members of the Liberian Senate to attend a conference in Tripoli. Members of the Senate rejected an invitation from the Union of African Civil Society Organization in Libya to some members of the Liberian Senate to participate in a conference in Tripoli from June 20 to 21. According to the invitation signed by Libyan Ambassador, Mohammed Omar Talbi, the conference will be held to discuss the African Union Government and its anticipation. [GNN]

Saturday, 16 June, 2007:
The U.S. should not return Guantanamo detainee Abdul Ra'ouf al-Qassim to Libya, where he will face a real risk of torture and other abuse, Human Rights Watch said today. The US government's reliance on a no-torture promise from Libya, a country that the US State Department has condemned for its poor record on torture, is insufficient to protect al-Qassim from abuse. The US government claims that al-Qassim, a 32-year-old Libyan, has associated with the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), an organization committed to the overthrow of Libyan leader Qadhafi and banned under Libyan law. Now, the U.S. intends to send al-Qassim back to Libya in reliance on promises of humane treatment by the Libyan government, despite his fears that he will be tortured and possibly even killed if returned there. [Reuters]
Saturday, 16 June, 2007:
Libya agreed on Friday to let a Spanish fishing boat land rescued African migrants on its soil, the captain of the boat told state radio. Libya's decision follows a day of diplomatic wrangling with Spain over who was responsible for the 26 Africans, including a corpse, plucked from the sea off the coast of Tripoli by the Spanish fishermen after the migrants' rickety boat capsized. Libyan authorities had refused the boat permission to enter the port of Tripoli on Thursday but relented on Friday, the captain of the boat told state radio. [Reuters]
Saturday, 16 June, 2007:
Libya's Supreme Court of Justice will hold a hearing on June 20 on the trial against the five Bulgaria nurses and the Palestinian doctor after they appealed the verdict. This is the final court instance, which will confirm, repeal the death sentence or will pronounce a different one, but it cannot order retrial. This means that the court's decision will be final. In case of confirming the sentence, there is a possibility that the six medics' lawyers to ask the Libyan Supreme Judiciary Council to reprieve the defendants. [SNA]
Saturday, 16 June, 2007:
Libya is the sole candidate for the post of Chair of a United Nations anti-racism conference to be held in Geneva later this month, upsetting human rights groups who recalled the fatal consequences to the Commission on Human Rights when it chose Libya in 2003. A meeting yesterday by the Human Rights Council's five regional groups also named Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Russia as among the 15 bureau members who will oversee preparatory deliberations for a 2009 gathering to follow up on the Durban conference of 2001. Some human rights groups are expressing alarm at the conference leadership, which is to be voted in before the June 25 session. "Choosing Qadhafi to head a world anti-racism conference is like appointing a pyromaniac to be town fire chief," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. [UNW]
Saturday, 16 June, 2007:
A former senior British intelligence officer turned BP adviser has been helping negotiate a delicate deal with Libya over the fate of six medics detained there – a case that could be resolved before the end of the month. Sir Mark Allen, who played a central role in the talks that led to Libya's 2003 decision to abandon weapons of mass destruction, joined the energy group as special adviser in 2005. BP last month announced a £450m ($900m, €665m) exploration deal with the Libyan government, consolidating Tripoli's gradual rehabilitation in the international community. A key issue still casting a shadow over Libya's political and business relations with the west, however, is the fate of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor detained in Libya. The medics were sentenced to death in December for allegedly infecting more than 400 children with the HIV virus in 1998 and have been detained since 1999. [FT]
Saturday, 16 June, 2007:
The Bush administration took action Friday against two Iranians suspected of connections to Iran's nuclear program. The Treasury Department action, part of efforts to tighten the financial vise on Tehran, is against Mohammad Qannadi and Ali Hajinia Leilabadi. Any bank accounts or other financial assets belonging to these two men found in the United States must be frozen. In addition, American are forbidden from doing business with them. Separately, the department financially clamped down on three Libyans accused of being members of terrorist organizations al-Qaida and the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. Those three are: Nur al-Din al-Dibiski, Said Yusif Ali Abu Azizah and Ali Sulayman Mas'ud Abd al-Sayyid. [AP]

Friday, 15 June, 2007:
A woman who lost her brother in the Lockerbie bombing is still seeking answers about the terrorist atrocity nearly 20 years on. Among the 270 victims was management consultant Peter Dix. His sister Pamela has been campaigning for answers about the atrocity ever since her brother’s death. Despite a 2004 pledge from Tony Blair that he would press for more information from the Libyan leader Qadhafi, Ms Dix said little has been delivered since. She said: “What I would have liked the Prime Minister to have done in Libya was to have got more information about what happened. [Woking News and Mail]
Friday, 15 June, 2007:
Libyan leader Qadhafi and visiting Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe want African leaders to agree next month to unite Africa under one government. The two men, both among the world’s longest serving leaders, agreed in talks in Tripoli on Wednesday that the 53-nation African Union (AU) should be turned into an embryonic federal government at an AU heads of state summit in Ghana on July 1-2. “They consulted on the upcoming African Union summit due to be held in Ghana, and in relation to this they emphasised the establishment of the African Union government,” Libya’s official Jana news agency said. [Daily Times]
Friday, 15 June, 2007:
Libya has joined the growing list of countries calling for the lifting of the Western-imposed sanctions against Zimbabwe while it has reportedly refused to mediate in the dispute between Harare and London.
President Mugabe — who arrived here on Wednesday night for an official visit — held talks with his Libyan counterpart Colonel Qadhafi, during which he updated him on the situation in Zimbabwe. Sources who attended the talks said the President told Col Qadhafi that while there was peace in the country, Zimbabwe was under threat from economic sanctions imposed by Western powers led by Britain and the United States. [The Herald]
Friday, 15 June, 2007:
Bombardier Aerospace announced today that Libyan Airlines has signed a firm order for three Bombardier CRJ900 regional jets. The airline has also taken options on another two CRJ900 aircraft. This order was announced on June 6, 2007, but the identity of the customer was not disclosed. Based on the list price for the CRJ900, the contract for the three firm-ordered aircraft is valued at $108 million US. Libyan Airlines currently serves 27 destinations with passenger and cargo service in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. [Market Wire]
Friday, 15 June, 2007:
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday sided with New York City (NYC) in its efforts to collect property taxes from the governments of India and Mongolia. In a 7-2 decision, the justices said U.S. courts have jurisdiction to decide the dispute. NYC is seeking $16.4 million from India and $2.1 million from Mongolia for their UN missions. The Bush administration sided with India and Mongolia, reversing a position the federal government took two decades ago. The administration now says the U.S. government was in error when it supported a tax enforcement action by a New Jersey municipality against property used by Libya's UN ambassador. [AP]
Friday, 15 June, 2007:
Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalgam has urged Portugal's biggest companies to invest in the vast development programme launched by Libya and in the modernization of its infrastructures. "There is a perfect agreement between us. But we have another ambition: we want that the Portuguese companies appear on the Libyan market," Shalgam told a news conference in Lisbon yesterday, following a meeting with his Portuguese counterpart Luis Amado. "We have in programme the construction of three airports of large dimensions, 3,000km of motorways, 250,000 lodgings, 18 villages, eight universities, five big hospitals and tourist projects. I invite the Portuguese companies to invest," he said. [ANSA]

Thursday, 14 June, 2007:
Alex Salmond has written to Tony Blair for the second time in a week complaining about the Prime Minister's talks with Libya over prisoner transfers. The First Minister first complained last week about the failure of Downing Street to consult the Scottish Executive over discussions on prisoner transfers.
Mr Salmond said he was concerned the talks could lead to the transfer back to Libya of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor, said that the talks had not committed the UK to any agreements of importance. He said Britain had only agreed to commence talks on both "prisoner transfer and judicial co-operation in extradition, and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters", but he failed to state whether or not the future of Megrahi had been part of the discussions. [The Scotsman]
Thursday, 14 June, 2007:
Libya opposes a proposal by the U.S. to set up a military command in Africa as part of its "war on terror," the deputy foreign minister said on Wednesday. "We reiterated our position that Libya rejects any foreign military presence in Libya as well as anywhere else on the African continent," Ali Abdul Salam Triki told journalists in Tripoli. He was speaking after a meeting with US Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Ryan Henry, who is heading a military and diplomatic mission that is touring Africa to explain the objectives of the proposed new command. The United States is seeking to set up what it calls the US African Command, or AFRICOM. The Henry team has already visited Algeria and Morocco, and will be heading on to Cairo, Djibouti and Addis Ababa, seat of the African Union (AU). [AFP]

Wednesday, 13 June, 2007:
Libya told US President George Bush not to interfere in the case of the Bulgarian death-sentenced nurses just a day after the US president reiterated his strong support for their release. "We hope that Bush and others will leave us to continue negotiations with the concerned parties so as to find a solution to this crisis," Abdelati Labidi, Libya's junior foreign minister, said at a press conference in Lisbon. The statement was a reaction to the clear message for the Bulgarian medics release that US President George Bush sent during his official visit in Sofia on June 11. "They should be released and they should be allowed to return to their families," Bush said at a joint press conference with Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov. [SNA]
Wednesday, 13 June, 2007:
A contract to sell incinerators to the Libyan oil industry is leading a Manchester company's international export drive. Eighteen months after Denton-based Todaysure Projects was bought by HS Thermal Engineering, the two businesses are taking their specialist incinerators to a global market.
The latest contract sees the firm selling incinerators to Libyan oil drillers who are forbidden to leave waste in the desert. The firm is winning other contracts in the Middle East, Africa and Far East.
Top of the range incinerators sell for as much as £1m a piece - with five a year being made and sold by Todaysure. Around 45 smaller incinerators are also sold each year. [Manchester Evening News]

Tuesday, 12 June, 2007:
President Bush pledged to help U.S. ally Bulgaria win the release of five Bulgarian nurses held in Libya since 1999 on charges of infecting Libyan children with the virus that causes AIDS. "We will continue to make clear to Libya that the release of these nurses is a high priority for our country," Bush said at a news conference with Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov. Bush noted that the United States is contributing to a fund to help the children. The nurses and a Palestinian doctor were sentenced last year to death in the case, which has drawn international condemnation. [The Washington Post]
Tuesday, 12 June, 2007:
A British judge sentenced three men to prison on Monday, after they pleaded guilty to helping a
Libyan terrorist group with funds and logistical support. The three - London resident Ismail Kamoka, 41; and Birmingham residents Abdul Bourouag, 44, and Khaled Abusalama, 36 - had pleaded guilty at Kingston Crown Court to providing funds and false passports to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), an armed group plotting to overthrow Libyan leader Qadhafi. The judge sentenced Kamoka to three years and nine months in prison. Bouraoug and Abusalama each received three years and eight months. Testimony indicated that Kamoka was the most active member of the support group, while Bourouag co-ordinated the supply of money and documents and Abusalama was a forger. They were arrested in October 2005, after which Britain labelled the LIFG a terrorist organization. [AP]
Tuesday, 12 June, 2007:
Seif al Islam, the son of the Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi, said yesterday that the case with the five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death there had entered its "final lap", the Spanish daily El Pais reports. "The decision will be positive and we hope it will be the beginning of the end of this case", Seif al Islam said. [FIA]
Tuesday, 12 June, 2007:
The Chairman of Open Society Institute George Soros (US), who is on an official visit to Bulgaria, strongly backs the country's efforts for the release of the five Libya-jailed nurses, Darik News reported. George Soros made his statement in connection with a letter he received from Bulgarian journalists, who sent it to the 100 richest persons in the world, asking for financial help for the HIV-infected Libyan children. He said he will not give any money for the cause and for the building of a modern center for the treatment of the Libyan children, who have AIDS, his argument being that Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi has enough money to do that on his own. He told journalists that the Qadhafi administration contacted him some years ago, inviting him to start some business relation with Libya, but Soros refused any visits until he sees the five nurses and the Palestinian doctor free. "The right approach is not to bribe dictators," he commented. [SNA]
Tuesday, 12 June, 2007:
Two European envoys yesterday met six foreign medics on death row in Libya for allegedly infecting children with the Aids virus and resolved to use all means possible to secure their release. The pledge came after Libyan leader Qadhafi's son raised the prospect of a resolution to the case soon and US President George W Bush appealed for the release of the medics who have been behind bars for more than eight years. "They can rest assured that I will continue to work with all my powers to achieve their liberation - the sooner the better," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said after meeting the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor at a Tripoli prison. "We do see a window of opportunity for a solution and it is our intention to make sure that it doesn't close before we can use it," said Ferrero-Waldner, who is visiting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. [AFP]

Monday, 11 June, 2007:
Two senior European officials flew to Libya on Sunday to try to solve the case of six foreign medics sentenced to death for deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV, the children's families said.
Driss Lagha, chairman of the Association for the Families of the HIV-infected Children, said European Union External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited some of the infected children at a Benghazi hospital and met some of the families.
He reported Steinmeier and Ferraro-Waldner as saying they were hoping for a speedier resolution of the crisis and voicing support for an EU offer of medical treatment for the children. Lagha added without elaborating: "We also discussed the issue of compensation, but this is still under negotiation." [Reuters]
Monday, 11 June, 2007:
Colorado and Utah (USA) have as much oil as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Nigeria, Kuwait,
Libya, Angola, Algeria, Indonesia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates combined. That's not science fiction. Trapped in limestone up to 200 feet thick in the two Rocky Mountain states is enough so-called shale oil to rival OPEC and supply the U.S. for a century. Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., the two biggest U.S. energy companies, and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are spending $100 million a year testing new methods to separate the oil from the stone for as little as $30 a barrel. [Desert News]
Monday, 11 June, 2007:
Hal Mann International Ltd, the export 'arm' of Hal Mann Vella Ltd, exhibited at this year's Libya Build 2007 at the Tripoli International Fair Ground last month. Held from May 21-24, this was the fourth time this annual specialist exhibition for the construction industry in Libya was held. Exhibitors from around the world comprised companies in the construction, water technology, electricity, air conditioning, decoration, bathroom, marble and stone, paint, flooring and widow and door sectors. Modern Libya is eager to join the international community and is working hard to be a leading example of a new economy in Africa. It is developing a new strategy for its existence and is broadening the horizon of its future.
In particular, Libya has great plans in its tourism sector. [TimesOfMalta]

Sunday, 10 June, 2007:
The Scottish National Party (SNP) government stepped up their attack on Downing Street over a deal they claim could return the Lockerbie bomber to Libya. First Minister Alex Salmond demanded "more respect" for Holyrood after it emerged Tony Blair and Libyan leader Qadhafi had agreed a treaty on prisoner transfers without consulting the Executive. And Salmond's justice secretary Kenny MacAskill dismissed reassurances from Downing Street as "ludicrous". The row broke out when Salmond revealed details of a "memorandum of understanding" between Britain and Libya in a dramatic emergency statement to Holyrood on Thursday. The SNP believe the deal is a move to return of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi to Libya. He is serving life in Greenock Prison for killing 270 people. [Daily Record]
Sunday, 10 June, 2007:
The Libyan authorities negotiated the transfer of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi to a Libyan prison to serve his life sentence. They promised to release the Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor, who were sentenced to death in Libya, in return, reads the Glasgow Herald, quoting close to the talks sources from the Middle East. Despite that the Downing Street maintained that the extradition of Megrahi has not been worded in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by both countries, Libyan delegation representatives claimed that a swap was actually discussed. The newspaper also emphasizes that recently the EU has been exerting some serious pressure over Libya to set free the medics, as the online English edition of Standart reported. [FIA]

Saturday, 9 June, 2007:
Libya, citing cost and liability concerns, has informed the U.S. of plans to back out of a contract to destroy its mustard gas stocks as promised under a landmark 2003 agreement, U.S. officials said. The State Department played down the development and insisted Tripoli remains committed to getting rid of its chemical weapons agents. But some officials and experts worry that a critical opportunity to destroy Libya's remaining stocks -- believed to include 23 metric tons of old mustard gas and 1,300 metric tons of precursor chemicals -- could be lost. Under the 2003 agreement -- hailed by the Bush administration as a major foreign policy success -- Libya promised to dismantle its WMDs and long-range missile programs. [Reuters]
Saturday, 9 June, 2007:
Sitting in a Bedouin tent in Libya, it may have seemed like a good idea. But Tony Blair's memorandum of understanding with Colonel Qadhafi has caused the biggest rift with Holyrood since devolution. It is ironic indeed that the man who gave us devolution is now the man who has done so much to damage it. All parties have united to condemn the fact that Scotland was not consulted over what looks like the beginning of a handover process which will see the Lockerbie bomber [Abdelbaset Al Megrahi] returned to Libya. Abdelbaset Al Megrahi is serving a 27-year jail sentence for the murder of 270 people in the Lockerbie bombing [1988]. [BBC]
Saturday, 9 June, 2007:
About 50 would-be immigrants in two boats that have gone missing off the Libyan coast and a search is under way, the Maltese army said on Friday. An alert was raised on Thursday with a distress call from one of the boats to Maltese authorities reporting engine failure about 47 nautical miles off Libya. Libyan authorities said they could not answer the call because of the rough seas, and the Maltese coastguard lost contact with the boats. [AFP]
Saturday, 9 June, 2007:
Libya’s Committee for Housing and Infrastructure Management will sign a contract with the Vietnam Construction Import-Export Corporation (Vinaconex) to recruit over 4,000 Vietnamese workers. The content of the contract was discussed at a working session between the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) and a delegation from Libya. The workers to be recruited include managers, technicians and others. [VNA]

Friday, 8 June, 2007:
The British government's failure to consult Scottish ministers about a co-operation deal with
Libya is "clearly unacceptable", Alex Salmond has said. The first minister [of Scottland] said he had written to Tony Blair to express concern about the apparent deal. A memo of understanding is thought to have been signed between the two countries, covering judicial co-operation on matters of law, extradition, and prisoners transfer. It could impact on the fate of Libyan prisoners in UK custody, including Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. [Epolitix]
Friday, 8 June, 2007:
British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman denied news reports that a Libyan man jailed for blowing up a US-bound passenger jet over Scotland would finish his sentence in Libya. Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi was jailed in 2001 for the 1988 attack on Pan Am flight 103 that blew up over the town of Lockerbie, killing all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground. He is currently serving a 27-year sentence in a prison near Glasgow. Asked about the reports on the BBC and Sky News, Blair’s spokesman said: "It’s wrong". [Gulf Times]
Friday, 8 June, 2007:
Jordan is making good progress on its bid to form a national association of freight forwarders. A recent meeting of FIATA’s Region Africa Middle East (RAME) in Amman, was told Jordan had completed its submission to form a national association and it was hoped that they can be endorsed at the FIATA World Congress to be held in Dubai in October. Libya too hopes to get its documents [application] approved at the Dubai meeting. [Impact]
Friday, 8 June, 2007:
Libya has ordered two aircraft for medical transport from the U.S. aircraft manufacturer Cessna for a total value of $27 million. The news was confirmed today by a Libyan official, who preferred to remain anonymous. The contract was part of "an agreement signed between the Libyan Health Ministry and Cessna," the source said. The first aircraft should be handed over next July, while the second one should be ready in July 2008. [ANSA]
Friday, 8 June, 2007:
Malta's Foreign Minister Michael Frendo has told French newspaper Le Figaro the Libyan authorities three times told Malta they would pick up illegal migrants found clinging to a tuna pen but they never showed up. The migrants were eventually picked up by the Italian navy. Dr Frendo rejected suggestions that Malta had abandoned the illegal migrants. "We have never abandoned any immigrants at sea. Malta has always carried out its duties and we have saved the lives of thousands of clandestine immigrants," he insisted. [TimesOfMalta]
Friday, 8 June, 2007:
Europe's half-hearted attempt to patrol its maritime borders was exposed on Wednesday, as the EU's justice commissioner predicted another wave of migrants heading across the sea from Africa this summer.
Franco Frattini said only one-tenth of the aircraft, helicopters and planes promised by member states to address the issue had been supplied. His comments came the week after 27 shipwrecked Africans spent three days clinging to tuna nets in the Mediterranean while Malta and Libya argued over who should pick them up. [FT]
Friday, 8 June, 2007:
Libyan housing authorities signed a huge construction contract with the Chinese Int'l Company for Construction to build 20,000 housing units in different cities. The contract was signed by the deputy director of the Libyan Board of Housing and the vice chairman of the Chinese company. The company will start by building 5000 housing units in Benghazi. The project will commence within one month from the date of signing of the contract. [ANSA]

Thursday, 7 June, 2007:
The United States’ improved relations with Libya should not be construed as approval of Col. Qadhafi’s regime, but it is in the US’ interest to engage the Libyan government, according to the US’ chief Middle East diplomat. “My job is not to make friends with authoritarians, it's to pursue what I think are national interests,” David Welch, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee June 6. Welch said he finds it unlikely that the US will normalize its relations completely with Libya in the near future given that country’s past sponsorship of terrorism against U.S. citizens. Nevertheless, he said it is important for the US to establish full diplomatic relations with Libya. [USInfo]
Thursday, 7 June, 2007:
Arab political reform is a joke as long as Britain and America embrace a regime that has never allowed an election since 1969, that has subverted Arab and African governments, whose bizarre social experiments and Green Books put Chairman Mao to shame. But Western spies and Western oilmen bear a moral responsibility to the Libyan people. So the CEO of Exxon meets the Colonel in a tent, Shell mints money with LNG tankers, the Rothschild Bank advises on Libyan offshore refinery mergers, Harvard Business/School's Michael Porter designs the Libyan economic future. Amnesia definitely helps in a world where friends and enemies are ephemeral but spooks and oil money are permanent. [Khaleej Times]

Wednesday, 6 June, 2007:
Colony Capital LLC, the property buyout firm led by billionaire Thomas Barrack, agreed to acquire control of Libya's Tamoil SA for 4 billion euros ($5.4 billion), beating other bidders including Carlyle Group.
The Libyan government will retain a 35% stake in the refiner and gas-station operator, Los Angeles-based Colony said in a statement today. Libya, holder of Africa's largest oil reserves, decided to sell Tamoil two years ago, after Qadhafi's son, Seif Al-Islam, said that managing the company was a "burden." Tamoil, based in Switzerland and 100 percent owned by the Libyan government under the name of Oilinvest BV, owns three refineries -- in Germany, Italy and Switzerland -- and 2,500 filling stations in Italy. [Bloomberg]
Wednesday, 6 June, 2007:
PGNiG, Poland's natural-gas firm, plans to bid for gas deposits in Libya as part of its strategy to reduce the country's dependence on imports from Russia, the company said. 'We are preparing for a tender in Libya,' PGNiG spokesman Tomasz Fill told Thomson Financial News. 'It is an element of creating value by looking for new gas resources.' State-controlled PGNiG has been tasked with reducing Poland's dependence on foreign gas supplies, also as part of its own attempts to improve its bargaining position for supplies. [AFX]

Tuesday, 5 June, 2007:
The recently elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced talks to resolve the case of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death in Libya are making headway. "This is one of those issues that have more chances of making a progress the less the public talk about them. I had the opportunity to discuss the issue with Libyan leader Qadhafi. I will only say that talks are moving ahead," Sarkozy said.
[SNA]
Tuesday, 5 June, 2007:
Namibia's campaign of qualifying for the African Nations in Ghana next year got back on track on Saturday as Namibia recorded a significant 1-0 win against Libya. A fifth minute goal by Hamburg-based Collin Benjamin after a well-calculated pass from Angolan-based Meraai Swartbooi was enough to give the Namibians the needed victory. [New Era]
Tuesday, 5 June, 2007:
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki left for Libya for a three-day official visit where he is expected to woo Libyan investors and hold talks with his host, Libyan leader Qadhafi. The visit is geared towards consolidating the growing ties between Kenya and Libya. The visit is also a follow-up to the Memorandum of Understanding, which Kenya through the Ministry of Energy signed early this year with Libya's Tamoil Holdings Limited. [Xinhua]

Monday, 4 June, 2007:
Libya warned foreign governments on Sunday against trying to force the release of five nurses sentenced to death for infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV, saying talks to find a mutual solution were under way. U.S. President Bush reiterated his support for the release of the Bulgarian medics, held in a Libyan jail since 1999, and said in an interview aired on Friday that he hoped they would be released soon. "We were hoping that President Bush would state his sympathy for the disaster of those children and the suffering of their families, which has gone on for many years," the Libyan foreign ministry said in a statement. [Reuters]
Monday, 4 June, 2007:
Estranged neighbours Chad and Sudan held renewed fence-mending talks at a regional summit in Libya Sunday in a bid to reconcile their differences over the four-year-old conflict in Darfur. The two countries' presidents, Idriss Deby and Omar Al Beshir, held a head-to-head meeting on the sidelines after leaders of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) discussed the conflict until late Saturday. The Deby-Beshir talks came in the framework of efforts to ease tension between the two neighbors, which accuse each other of supporting rebel groups seeking to overthrow their rival governments. [AFP]
Monday, 4 June, 2007:
In the wake of the recent upsurge in illegal immigrants departing from Libya, trying to reach EU shores, particularly Malta and Italy, the EU Border Control agency Frontex has sent a reconnaissance mission to Libya to assess the situation on the ground and evaluate what type of assistance the country needs to stop illegal migration. Libya is currently being accused by southern EU member states, including Malta, of not collaborating on illegal immigration and of not living up to its obligations under international laws, not even with regard to its maritime search and rescue area. [TimesOfMalta]
Monday, 4 June, 2007:
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who has raised eyebrows in Washington by forging ties with Iran, said on Sunday he will travel to the country aboard a jet on loan from Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi. Ortega, a Cold War-era enemy of Washington who is an ally of U.S. antagonist Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, told reporters he was leaving for Caracas, the first stop in a 10-day tour that will take him to Iran, Algeria, Libya and Cuba. Ortega said longtime U.S. critic Qadhafi loaned him a jet to cut the cost of the trip. He said he would also make a stop in Italy, but did not reveal his itinerary. [Reuters]

Sunday, 3 June, 2007:
BP could spend as much as $25 billion (£12.5 billion) developing oil and gasfields in Libya after clinching a deal last week to return to the country after more than 30 years. The deal provides for a minimum commitment of $900m. But a senior BP executive has told the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) that the ultimate commitment could be many times that figure, depending on the success of exploration efforts. “There is a lot of unexplored territory in the Sirte basin, where there is potential for a number of gasfields. The seven-year exploration and production agreement, which includes an option for extension, covers 17 wells, and the acquisition of 30,000 square kilometres of territory for survey. [TimesOnLine]
Sunday, 3 June, 2007:
Libya will host in January 2008 the first exhibition dedicated to the processing of gold and other precious metals and for its organisation the Libyan authorities have officially asked for the collaboration of an Italian body or association. The Libyan authorities also expect a significant participation in the event on the part of Italian companies specialised in gold trade, processing of precious metals and mounting of precious stones. [ANSAmed]
Sunday, 3 June, 2007:
Malta has told other Mediterranean countries, including Libya, they had a duty to save African migrants spotted in their search and rescue areas. Malta refused to take in 26 migrants on Monday after they were picked up by a Spanish tug-boat in rough seas. Valletta insisted the North Africans were picked up well inside the Libyan search and rescue area. "All countries around this table have a duty to save lives at sea in the search and rescue zone for which they are responsible," Maltese Foreign Minister Michael Frendo said. [Reuters]
Sunday, 3 June, 2007:
The French Navy’s frigate Lamotte Piquet recovered up to 21 corpses within the Libyan search and rescue regions on Friday. The Armed Forces of Malta’s (AFM) Rescue Co-ordination Centre Headquarters in Luqa Barracks was informed of the recovery of the first body at around 1130CEST. The AFM requested it carries out a standard complete search pattern of the immediate area where the corpses were found. A total of 21 corpses are reported to have been found. Diplomatic efforts are currently underway between France and Libya for the French frigate to enter port and offload the said corpses. [MaltaMedia]
Sunday, 3 June, 2007:
The Comoros and Guinea joined the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) at a summit of the nine-year-old African grouping in Libya on Saturday, raising its membership to 25 countries. In an opening speech Libyan leader Qadhafi hailed the "high-level turnout" for the summit which drew 14 heads of state as well as heads of government and ministers. The summit, in Qadhafi's hometown of Sirte on Libya's central Mediterranean coast, comes against the backdrop of conflicts in group members Ivory Coast, Somalia and Sudan. [AFP]

Saturday, 2 June, 2007:
A deal to resolve the case of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death for deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV may be close, the children’s families said yesterday.
The remarks by the Association for the Families of the HIV-infected Children were the latest in a flurry of signals that a deal for the medics’ release, currently being discussed by EU officials and the families, may be close. “We might reach an agreement on the Bulgarian nurses and the children before June 21,” Driss Lagha, chairman of the association, said. “In the event of reaching a settlement it will be presented to the High Judicial Council for approval and for the council to take the necessary measures regarding it,” he added. [Reuters]
Saturday, 2 June, 2007:
US President George Bush said Friday the US is committed to helping free five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya in a high-profile AIDS case. "We are very much committed to helping to not only support the nurses but to free the nurses," Bush told Bulgarian national television BNT. Bush said he had given this message personally to Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov. "That is the position of the US and we send that message very clearly to the Libyan government. We are committed. We hope that this tragic case, painful case would be solved quickly and in a way that is satisfactory to the Bulgarian people," said Bush, whose comments were broadcast in English with Bulgarian subtitles. "As I understand, [British Prime Minister] Tony Blair was working the issue the other day as well," Bush also said. [Daily Star]
Saturday, 2 June, 2007:
Libya hosts a summit of 23 African leaders on Saturday against the backdrop of conflicts in Darfur, Ivory Coast and Somalia. The unresolved four-year-old conflict between the Sudanese military and ethnic minority rebels, and its spillover into the neighbouring Central African Republic and Chad, looms high on the agenda for the summit of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), to which all three states belong. Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi's aspirations to develop the African Union into an African version of the United States are also to be discussed. "A United States of Africa is the hope," read a large banner erected over the summit venue on Friday, as tight security was put in place for the meeting. [AFP]

Friday, 1 June, 2007:
BP's Libyan gas accord could well be a sign of things to come, with the north African producer cutting more bilateral deals to gain the latest technology without the effort of a bidding round. Tuesday's deal will not be the last time Libya taps a multinational to help it lift gas exports or boost oil output capacity, industry watchers say. Libya is eyeing the majors as they have the cash and expertise to handle big ventures, and possibly too because they are perceived to have political clout. "Once again, this is major proof that there is a more lucrative way into Libya than through increasingly low-margin licensing rounds, " said Global Insight. [Reuters]
Friday, 1 June, 2007:
On his second visit to Libya, Blair said he had "positive and constructive" talks with Col Qadhafi in the desert outside Sirte about the relationship between Britain and the former rogue state, which renounced its WMD programme in 2003. However, Blair's trip, which will also take in Sierra Leone and South Africa, was criticised by Chris Grayling, the shadow transport secretary, as a "vanity tour" after it emerged that he was being shadowed by writers and photographers from Men's Vogue. "Blair seems to have abandoned being Prime Minister and the taxpayer is having to fund his vanity tour of the world," Mr Grayling said. [The Telegraph]
Friday, 1 June, 2007:
Detectives investigating the murder of Pc Yvonne Fletcher more than 20 years ago are being helped by the Libyan authorities. Scotland Yard Commissioner said that police officers have travelled to the north African state, but a suspect has yet to be identified. He said the Libyan government was "co-operating" with the inquiry, bringing fresh hope that the officer's killer may be brought to justice. The news came after Tony Blair met Libya's leader, Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi, earlier this week. Pc Fletcher was shot dead outside the Libyan embassy in London on April 17, 1984, while policing a protest against Col Qadhfi's regime. [The Telegraph]
Friday, 1 June, 2007:
Somalia president, Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed, has flown to Libya, Somali officials reported Thursday. The president would attend the sub-Saharan African summit in Libya. Presidential sources indicate that Mr. Yusuf flew from Mogadishu int'l airport around 9:00 am local time. He was accompanied by an entourage of government officials form the two cabinets. Reports say he would convene with his counterpart, President Qadhafi in Libya over stiffening the diplomatic and economic relationships between Somalia and Libya. [Shabelle Media Network]
Friday, 1 June, 2007:
A Syrian man who failed to turn up for a Court hearing over the alleged attempted murder of a colleague on Monday fled to Libya two days earlier. On Thursday it emerged that 32-year-old Hachem Ali left Malta under a false passport on Saturday. The man, a San Ġwann resident, is wanted for the attempted murder of Vincent Sammut. According to the defence council, Mr Ali was set to plead guilty in his hearing on Monday. [Malta Media]
Friday, 1 June, 2007:
Libya will buy British missiles and air defence systems under a new defence cooperation agreement between the two countries, Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi said on Tuesday. "Libya will buy missiles and air defence weapons in addition to training and local manufacturing," he told reporters in the Libyan town of Sirte at the end of a one-day visit to the north African country by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. [Rueters]
To send
me the latest news or views please click here:
dribrahim@earthlink.net Back to:
Libya: Our Home